The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has abandoned its legal case seeking to stop the Electoral Commission (EC) from going ahead with the voter registration exercise.
The NDC’s suit at the Supreme Court is based on two premises - first, that the attempt by the EC to compile a new registration exercise was unconstitutional and second that the decision of the EC to exclude an existing voter ID as a form of identification for the exercise was also unconstitutional .
However, at today’s hearing, lawyer for the NDC, Mr Godwin Tameklo, abandoned the first leg which had to do with the constitutionality of the EC’s decision to conduct that exercise.
That was after the court told counsel that per the rules of court, a party cannot be seeking a relief and also asked to be granted another relief in the alternative.
Counsel took a cue from the bench and abandoned the relief that had to do with the EC’s decision to conduct the registration exercise.
Suit
The NDC in March, this year, invoked the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the constitution with a case that it was unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voters ID as a prerequisite for the upcoming voter registration exercise.
It is the contention of the NDC that it is unconstitutional for the EC to reject an existing voter ID as it will disenfranchise many Ghanaians which is a violation of Article 42 of the 1992 Constitution.
The NDC further argues that per Article 45 of the 1992 Constitution the EC can only compile a voter registration once and periodically revise it.
The Supreme Court will on June 23, this year deliver a judgment on whether or not the Electoral Commission (EC) is obliged by law to accept an existing voters’ card as a form of identification for the upcoming mass registration exercise.
A seven-member panel of the court, presided over by the Chief Justice, fixed the date Thursday morning during a hearing of a suit by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) challenging the EC’s decision to exclude an existing voters’ ID as a prerequisite for the registration exercise.
Other Justices on the panel are Jones Dotse, Paul Baffoe Bonnie, Sule Gbadegbe, Samuel K Marful-Sau, Nene Amegatcher, and Professor Ashie Kotey.
Dozens of police personnel massed up at the Supreme Court complex Thursday morning to provide security and avert any possible confrontations that might take place during the hearing of the case between the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Electoral Commission (EC) on the voters' register.
Led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr Kwasi Ofori, the Director of Operations at the Accra Regional Police Command, the officers have taken post at all entrances to the court complex as well entrances to the courtroom itself, reports Graphic Online's court reporter, Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson.
Leading members of the NDC such as Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, a former Attorney-General, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, another former A-G, and Barbara Serwaah Asamoah, a Deputy General Secretary is the NDC are in the courtroom.
Also present in the courtroom was Mr Samuel Tettey, a Deputy Chairperson of the EC in charge of Operations.
Source: Daily Graphic
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NDC CASE AGAINST EC IS AN ACT OF HALF-EDUCATION. HALF EDUCATION IS THE INABILITY TO APPLY BOOK KNOWLEDGE TO REALITY OF LIFE. IT IS LACK OF PRACTICALITY TO ACHIEVE A FRUITFUL RESULTS. THE MEDIA HAVE BEEN GENEROUS TO NDC TO STATE THAT THEY WITHDREW ONE OF THEIR TWO CASES TO THE SC, THEY DID NOT. THEY WERE COMPELLED TO PUT ASIDE ONE OF THE CASES TO BECOME SENSIBLEE AND REASONABLEEE,E BECAUSE THE TWO PLEADINGS WERE CONTRARY TO ONE ANOTHER AND THEREFORE INCOHERENT. LAWS AND COURT JUDGEMENT, WITH ALL ITS TECHNICALITIES, STEM FROM GOOD HUMAN REASONING AND COMMON SENSE. THE NDC FIRST PLEADING THAT CURRENT EC CANNOT COMPILE A NEW VOTERS' REGISTER CONTRADICT THEIR SECOND PLEADING THAT THE CURRENT EC SHOULD USE THE OLD VOTERS' CARD TO DO THE REGISTRATION. THE FIRST PLEADING REQUEST THE SC TO STOP EC TO DO REGISTRATION. THE SECOND PLEADING REQUEST THE SC TO MAKE EC ACCEPTS OLD VOTERS' CARD TO DO REGISTRATION. ON ONE BREATH NDC DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE MANDATE OF EC TO DO NEW REGISTRATION, ON ANOTHER BREATH THEY RECOGNIZE THE MANDATE OF EC TO DO REGISTRATION AND THEN REQUESTS FOR THE INCLUSION OF OLD VOTERS ID. THE SC WAS CHARITABLE TO NDC. THE SC COULD HAVE THROWN AWAY THE TWO CONTRADICTORY PLEADINGS OF NDC FOR THEM TO START AFRESH OR ABANDON THEIR DISPUTE. GENEROUSLY AS THE SC WERE, THE SC OFFERED AN OPTION TO NDC TO BECOME CONSISTENT AND COHERENT BY DROPPING ANY ONE OF THE TWO CONFLICTING PLEAS. ANY OF THE OPTION WAS NOT A GOOD ONE FOR NDC. THE FIRST OPTION WHICH THEY ABANDONED WAS WEAK. IT COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY DEFEATED. THE SECOND OPTION MIGHT STILL NOT BE A HEALTHY ONE IF THE PREMISE HAD NOT BEEN CHANGED AND STILL BASED ON ASSUMPTION THAT " IF THE EC HAS THE MANDATE THEN THEY SHOULD ADD OLD VOTERS CARD." THE COURT DOES NOT RULE BY HYPOTHESIS OF ASSUMPTIONS BUT THE REALITY OF FACTS. NDC ARGUE THE EXCLUSION OF OLD VOTERS CARD SHALL EXCLUDE VOTERS. BY WHAT EPERICAL BASIS IS THE ARGUMENT. IT IS EC PREROGATIVE TO DECIDE WHAT IS MOST PRACTICAL AND ADEQUATE. IT MUST BE FAIR AND ACCESSIBLE TO ALL ACROSS THE NATION. CAN ANY ONE PROVE THAT THE THREE EC PROVISIONS, GHANA CARD, PASSPORT, WITNESSES, ARE EXCLUSIVE TO SOME PARTIES AGAINST OTHERS. ALL THESE FEARS AND COMPLAINTS ARE STILL BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS AND PREJUDICES WHICH CANNOT PASS ANY TEST OF REALITY.
NDC party leaders are confused and misleading their members. You wrongly advised them to boycott the NIA card registration. Now your sasabonsan Pentecost Elder Chairman is advising again to boycott the EC registration. In any case registration and voting is not compulsory in Ghana. The party can just boycott the 2020 election if they so wish.
Alonzo, your know it all is the result of your disgrace in court ! A good lawyer would know the 2 charges did not add up so only one must be the case, did you expect the Supreme Court judges to make your case for you? Your lawyer should be ashamed of himself to be taught what to do in court you hurry in everything out of hate and lose afterwards. The Judges are all lawyers like those you sent for that disgrace so if he had learnt the law well but not because of ndc politics this tiny mistake wouldn't have occured ! Understand ndc lawyers are "awuto wasaman 11" and disgraceful ! 2009 kukukukukuku you sent 15 cases to the court against npp appointees and none was found guilty, yet you thought your gyim**ie should be accepted by the court for those Ghanaians to be jailed because ndc was in power! You can't have your way in this modern Ghana ! Try to reason and compromise where necessary and criticize constructively to earn respect and affection for this your attitude is helping you to destroy ndc nobody is destroying ndc but your attitude !
"first, that the attempt by the EC to compile a new registration exercise" Peace FM you can not COMPILE NEW REGISTRATION EXERCISE but rather COMPILE NEW REGISTER. Check your grammar children are reading thank you.
poooooor headline...... wise up read carefully before commenting .. the SC gave options
Nobody can force anybody to register and vote, it is the right of individuals to make personal decisions. The reality is that when the wise refuses to decide the ***barred word*** will decide for him.
The current crop of NDC leadership is the worst in history. They keep misleading their followers. Just boycott the elections
THE NDC DONT HAVE THE LEGAL BRAINS TO ARGUE STRONGLY IN COURT. WHERE IS BABA JAMAL & CO? I HEARD BABA JAMAL MAKING NOISE LAST WEEK FROM ONE RADIO STATION TO ANOTHER. I AM PROUD TO BE A SUPPORTER OF THE ELEPHANT FAMILY.
With the Constitutional Interpretation being withdrawn, why is the case still at the Supreme Court? The Court must throw it away because it comes within the jurisdiction of the High court. You don't invoke the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution and abandon it and still expect the Supreme Court to adjudicate???? Its an abuse of court process
OMG so after all the brouhaha NDC lawyers went to court with a flawed argument. Why at all do they continue to disgrace themselves like this? As at now the NIA have registered over 11,000,000 Ghanaians with just about 5,500,000 yet to do which hopefully they will finish sometime in July therefore what is all this desperate noise making all about? How does NDC expect a country to develop properly when the country does not have reasonably accurate data about their population? I challenge anyone to mention just ONE developed country on earth that does not have accurate data on their population. Singapore who gained their independence about same period as Ghana was able to manage the Covid 19 effectively (even better than USA) due to accurate population data. It is time for Ghana to move forward away from the myopic parochial interests.